Tabloids Category
The news as told by the UK’s tabloid press – The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and News of the World.
John Prescott’s Son David Is Out Not In
MUCH gnarling and washing of teeth in Hull East as David Prescott, son to John Prescott, is denied a chance to follow his dad as the local MP.
Says David in the Mirror: “There are interests out there who don’t want me to progress.”
Says a voice in the crowd: “Better out than in, that’s what I always say!”
Picture: Poldraw
Posted: 17th, March 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment (1)
EastEnders Star Writes Her Own Scripts
SAYS Lacey Turner, EastEnders’ hard-faced harridan Stacey Slater: “I think a lot find me intimidating… The ones you want to talk to don’t come over – but you get the drunk ones who burp in your ear.”
And the EastEnders’ scriptwriters take notes…
Posted: 17th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
Shannon Watch: Mick Donovan, Good Neighbours And A Brain Tumour
SHANNON WATCH: – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
DAILY STAR (front page): “SHANNON: WAS MUM IN ON SNATCH?”
Pages 4 and 5: “’IT WAS ALL FAMILY SCAM’”
So says the man “suspected” of abducting Shannon, “allegedly”.
Such are the facts.
THE SUN (front page): “STALKER – Weirdo’s months watching..from next door”
The Sun “can reveal” that Mick Donovan visited one Amanda Hyett “up to four times a week to ‘comfort’ her after her father died”. Hyett is Shannon’s aunt. Hyett is Donovan’s niece.
“It is now thought Donovan…was secretly watching the schoolgirl.”
Thought? Indeed. So says the Sun’s “SHANNON EXCLUSIVE”.
Pages 4 and 5: “I’ll kill my kids”
Donovan “threatened to kill his won daughters after barricading himself into his house with them”.
Donovan is “crazed”. Donovan is a “toothless misfit”. A neighbour called Hayeley Brown says Donovan is a “real weirdo”.
“The mum of four told how a brain tumour had left him with a limp. She said: ‘His arm was a bit a paralysed as well. That and the limp and this big horrible eyes made him look a bit weird, bit pervy.”
What more evidence do you need?
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “SHANNON MAN: NEW ABUSE QUIZ”
“Mick Donovan is said to have made the brothers, aged six and 12, fondle each other.” Allegations. Unproven.
Page 5: “SHANNON DIDN’T KNOW SHE HAD BEEN ABDUCTED”
Of Shannon: “It I believed that so far no evidence of sexual abuse has been discovered…”
Believed? But the police are not releasing any information. Shannon Matthews is still being questioned. So too Mick Donovan.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 17th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (213)
DIY With Heather Mills McCartney
“MILLS is DIY icon.”
So says the Star, which illustrates its scoop with a picture of Lady Heather Mills, described as “feisty”.
This DIY, or ‘die’ as it is pronounced, could mark a new career for Heather Mills, and surely a presenting job on Celebrity Shelving With Heather looms large.
And then there is the spin-off show Celebrity Divorce With Heather in which Mills helps estranged spouses do it for themselves.
The Star says that many of us are inspired by Heather and more than 70% of estranged spouses are now more willing to represent themselves in divorce court.
Of course, in helping the estranged, Heather removes the “Y” from the “DIY”, leaving just the DI, or Do It.
And Do It With Heather Mills is a show some of us may have already seen, allegedly…
Posted: 17th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities, Tabloids | Comments (8)
Shannon Matthews: Rewarding Times
SHANNON Matthews has been found. And the Sun’s reward claimed. The reward it doubled. But by whom? And who gets it? How does the Sun decide?
Says Chief Supt Barry South: “Let me put on notice that had we known at any time the whereabouts of Shannon, we would have been there within seconds. These people are now coming out of the woodwork.”
Might the Sun now have to engage in some investigative journalism..?
Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (7)
Basil Brush With The Law: A Fox’s Tail
SAYS the MAIL: “Basil Brush probed by police over ‘racist abuse’ in gipsy spell sketch.”
Dame Rosie Fortune has just moved into a flat above Basil and Mr Stephen’s. Basil, a stuffed fox is sat before Dame Rosie. She offers to tell Basil’s fortune.
Says Basil: “I went to a fortune teller once and he said I was going on a long journey.” When Mr Stephen asks what happens, Basil replies: “He stole my wallet and I had to walk all the way home.”
Joseph Jones, vice-chairman of the Southern England Romany, Gipsy and Irish Traveller Network, says: “This sort of thing happens quite regularly and we are fed up with making complaints about stereotypical comments about us in words that we find racist or offensive. Racist abuse of black people is quite rightly no longer deemed acceptable, but when a comedian makes a joke on TV about pikeys or gippos, there’s no comeback.”
A Northamptonshire Police spokesman says: “We can confirm that we received a complaint from a member of the public about a TV show featuring Basil Brush. It was logged as an offence of a racist nature.”
Basil is unavailable for comment. But it is Anorak’s opinion that he should be given a ten minutes head start and then hunted down by a pack of hounds and men on horseback.
However a spokesman for the focus group Vile Representation In Media And News (VERMIN) says: “For too long foxes have been portrayed as cunning, accused of engaging in blood sports, massacring chickens and knockabout humour.”
He is also upset that wherever he goes he is greeted by complete strangers coming up to him and yelling “Boom! Boom!”. As you can appreciate, in the current climate of fear and terrorism this is last thing any right-minded person or fox would want.
As such, we expect Mr Brush to consult with his handlers Messrs Thomas and Terry, and take into account character witness statements from Mr Roy, Mr Derek and Mr Stephens…
Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (4)
Shannon Matthews: Paul Donovan’s ‘Vile’ School Uniform Sex
IN the News of the World’s front-page screamer “SHANNON MAN’S VILE SEX SECRET (more on that here), Paul Donovan’s ex-wife Sue Bird says:
“When he made me dress like a schoolgirl he’d want me in knee-high white socks, flat shoes and a tight top. I had to tie my hair up in plaits. And always no make-up, to complete the schoolgirl look.”
Vile. The NOTW is shocked.
On the Sun’s website – the Sun and the NOTW are News International’s sister papers – readers can access “’Schoolgirl’ ad shown exits”:
RYANAIR has refused to pull an ad showing a model in what looks like school uniform which has been banned by watchdogs. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the “irresponsible” image appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and feared it could offend readers.
There is a picytre of a woman dressed a schoolgirl, illustrating the message: “HOTTEST Back to School Fares”.
Enthusiasts of the Sun’s Page 3 Girls may be familiar with the work of Samtha Fox, the topless stunna who appears here in ‘vile’ garb.
And in “St.Trinian’s back with a bang – And they’re as wild and sexy as ever”, Sun readers read: “FIFTY years after they first charged through the crumbling corridors of their school, the girls of St. Trinian’s are back. And they’re as wild and sexy as ever.”
And: In an exclusive interview, Everett and Firth discuss our ‘pervy’ attitude to school uniforms and revealed how they overcame their public feud of 23 years to star in the film.
Vile…
Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (39)
Shannon Matthews: The Psychic, The Reward, The Ex-Wife, The Kinky Sex, The Speculation
SHANNON WATCH: – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
SUNDAY EXPRESS: “WHY WAS SHANNON LAUGHING?”
POLICE want to examine the exact nature of the relationship between Shannon Matthews and the man who is suspected of abducting her.
The mystery of how she came to be found hiding under a bed in a shabby upstairs flat with her stepfather’s uncle, Paul Drake, is now the key focus of their investigation.
In a shock twist last night, it emerged that neighbours of Drake have told police that they heard the youngster laughing and joking with him.
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “FAMILY TANGLE WILL BE PROBED”
John Stalker Former police chief takes a break from advertising garage doors to address the matter of missing children
Former police chief JOHN STALKER believes Shannon’s return may lead to further shock revelations. He suspects cops may be focus on further family links with her stepdad Craig Meehan.
What has Craig Meehan done? He says nothing. He has not been arrested. So why single him out? Not that the article even mentions him, his name only appearing in the teaser.
I was convinced that they were purposefully un-picking Shannon’s family relationships. At the same time they were conducting a large-scale conventional search in case she had died accidentally or was lost. But at no time did they seriously extend their interest outside of Dewsbury, despite the town lying close to the M1 and M62. This tells me they knew more than they were saying. A clearer picture will soon emerge of what took place.
In the meanwhile, let’s speculate…
What happened while Shannon was with Donovan? Did she go voluntarily? He was no stranger to her. Most importantly, was her divan drawer hiding place part of a game to keep her away from others she wished to escape from? The arrest of a family member throws up difficult questions about whether others were involved.
Let’s have a heated debate…
Police must seriously examine whether family connivance may be a feature. Large cash rewards are often available for the return of a missing child, such as in the Madeleine McCann inquiry. In Shannon’s case, the money on offer will undoubtedly have tempted some to make fraudulent claims. A shrewd investigator will know that.
BAFFLED COPS probe extraordinary new Shannon theory.. WAS IT A HOAX?
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Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (576)
Sian Lloyd And Lembit Opik’s Ill Wind
IN “My relationship with oddball MP Lembit Opik, and why I’m glad it’s over”, Sian Lloyd tells the Mail on Sunday that she has move on.
Lembik Opik is now entwined with a Cheeky Girl.
Readers who want to know how Sian has moved on can read A Funny Kind Of Love, by Sian Lloyd.
In this extract, Sian recalls Opik telling her about a paragliding accident he’d been in. She recalls his words to her: “The wind just went flat and the chute had deflated into a rag. I dropped 80ft, fell like a rock. I broke my back in 12 places. Then my ribs, sternum, jaw, and I lost four teeth.”
Sian listens. She looks. “I wondered if that explained his slightly twisted but interesting face.”
The wind changed. And Lembit stayed like that. If only Opik had met Sian earlier, she could have warned him what weather lay in store. But this is not about looking back. This is about Sian moving on.
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Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities, Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (6)
Ben Dover Sticks It To The Dirty Digger’s Labour Party
BEN Dover – which might not be his real name – could be the new General Secretary of the Labour Party.
Says the News of The World: “THEY’VE already got Ed Balls and Alistair Darling…but the Labour party could have had porn film king Ben Dover as GENERAL SECRETARY.”
Ed Balls is not a real porn name, nor is Alistair Darling. Both monikers appear to owe more to It Ain’t Half Hot Mum or anything by Hale & Pace. They are suggestive of camp comedy.
Ben Dover features such titles as The Porn Ultimatum, Hey Fatty Bum Bum and Porn Idol. He is the real thing.
Ben did not get the Labour Party job.
But Given his love of the pun, Ben may consider the job of picking the new Prime Minister and contact Mr Rupert Murdoch (aka Dirty Digger) about being News International’s next editor in chief…
Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (3)
Anorak Bingo: With Shannon Matthews, Madeleine McCann And Scarlett Keeling
McCANN, MATTHEWS. McKEOWN. It’s all part of Anorak Bingo – the game that’s taking the press by storm. The aim is to get the names ‘McCann’, ‘Matthews’ and ‘MacKeown’ into your article. Get all three and score double points. Pens at the ready…
THE INDEPENDENT: “Sarah Sands: Scarlett Keeling died at the roll of a dice. It’s a perilous game”
Each human tragedy has its socio-economic dimension. The terrifying abduction of Shannon Matthews is coolly discussed as a portrait of a debased white working class, with its multiplicity of fathers and attendant social workers. When Madeleine McCann went missing we rapidly absorbed the context. The parents were doctors, ambitious, gym conscious, dressed in high street chic. The holiday destination, Mark Warner in Portugal, was family minded and middle class. The McCanns felt safe to leave their children in the room, because they were among their own people.
Tick. Tick.
Fiona MacKeown was as trusting of her own way of life. Goa was the geographical affirmation of her identity. Gentle, free, non materialist, non judgmental. True to her beliefs, she has rejected the conventions of work, family structure and social aspiration. She has nine children by five fathers.
One person’s small holding is another person’s squalor. The shack that she calls home looks wretched to me, but I was not very shocked by the interior shots of Scarlett’s bedroom. My daughter’s room is just as untidy.
But let’s look anew at Diona MacKeown. Nice hair… blonde hair…
Similarly, I do not share the distaste of many journalists for Fiona MacKeown’s hippy appearance. She has a calm beauty and resembles Charlotte Rampling in some photographs. Scrubbed up a bit, the whole family could appear in a Calvin Klein advertisement. The children with their tousled hair and burnished bodies laughing on a beach with their carefree mother. It would be an alpha ideal if they had a few million in the bank and a Bryanston education.
Fiona MacKeown’s daughter has bene raped and murdered in India.
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Posted: 16th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (66)
Shannon Matthews: The Mirror’s Lucy Thorton Breaks The Story Of The Story
SHANNON WATCH: – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
DAILY MIRROR: “I’ve shared the despair and relief, says the Mirror’s Lucy Thornton”
Lucy Thornton is investigating the disappearance of Shannon Mathews “huddled round the mobile phone in Dewsbury Moor community centre’s small kitchen”. With her are the Matthews family.
Julie Bushby, a close friend of Shannon’s parents and chairman of the residents association who has been helping search for her, turned to me and shouted: “We think they’ve found her. Can we check it’s true? Please – we need to know.
“That was a friend of mine from Batley college. They think they’ve found her.”
The Daily Mirror, first for reported reported news…
I sat with Karen Matthews’ as she struggled to put her anguish into words. Her tears told the true story.
No need for words…
As the news spread yesterday Salem, 43, a popular local man, nicknamed “teddy bear” wept hysterically in the street.He lost his job because he was helping in the search. Shannon’s aunt Amanda Hyett went sprinting up the hill desperate for the news to be confirmed. She said: “I just thought ‘Oh God please let it be true’.”
I was there…
Meanwhile, I was hugged in the street by people I barely knew less than a month ago. They thanked me. What For? For just doing my job.
A reporter. A small town. A time for heroes. Going native in Dewsbury…
Madeleine McCann In A Taxi ‘With Murat’, Denied And Shannon Matthews
Shannon Matthews: No Portuguese Police, Class And Trial By Media
Madeleine McCann And Missing Shannon Matthews In The Media
Madeleine McCann: Tapas Sums, Shannon Matthews And GMTV
Shannon Matthews Found Alive In Bed: Updates
Madeleine McCann: What Shannon Matthews Is Worth, Asda And PR
Madeleine McCann And Shannon Matthews: And Jamie Bulger
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (8)
52-Stone Man Digs His Own Grave
IT takes four hours to lower the body of Christian Jeffrey into the ground.
The Mail says a solitary “good Samaritan” attended the 29-year-old’s council-paid funeral service.
Jeffrey is not the last but one man on Earth. Jeffrey is – was – 52-stone.
Gravediggers spent five days preparing the 4ft 8ins x 7ft 8ins hole for Mr Jeffrey and a 4ft x 7ft coffin, made of a reinforced MDF.
Dave Butler, cemetery groundsman, tells us: “There have been six of us working on the site and all our backs are aching. It’s been the biggest job I’ve been involved in by a long way. It usually takes us two days at most to prepare graves – and that’s when they’ve been dug by hand. This one has taken us five days and we had the use of a digger. It has been a real team effort.”
Sad times. RIP, Mr Jeffrey. But we cannot help that this was an opportunity missed.
In the drooling maw of what we are told is an obesity crisis, surely some oversight that Sarah Ferguson was not invited to attend, and the ceremony not forming the central plank is an Trevor McDonald TV special.
Mr Jeffrey should not have been lowered into a readymade pit but used as part of a scientific experiment to see if the fat really are digging their own graves. Look on as Mr Jeffrey is raised to great height by the Great BRtian Tug-o-War team and then let go.
Can he make it to six feet under, even after heavy rain?
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Welcome To Planet Earth: Population 0
“REVEALED: what the world will look like when we’ve gone,” says the Mail.
“Welcome to Planet Earth: Population 0. This is what our world would look like without people.”
Look like to whom? Perhaps the images should be pixelated and curved to see what the world without humans would look like through the eyes of a rat, a cockroach or Keith Richards?
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Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comment (1)
Heather Mills And The Sums Of Her Parts
LADY HEATHER MILLS is to get about £25million in her divorce from Paul McCartney.
The Sun says: “But it will still make one-legged Mucca one of Britain’s richest women – and gives her more than £6million for every year of their marriage.
The Express looks at the figures: “But a source closely connected to the case claimed she will receive roughly £4million for every year of the marriage.”
The Telegraph does some, sums: “The reported payout amounts to almost £4 million for every year that the Beatle was in a relationship with the former model.”
Such are the facts…
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities, Money, Tabloids | Comments (5)
Eliot Spitzer, The Briton And The Waterbottle Scandal
WHEN Eliot Spitzer was exposed as a member of a prostitute club, Britons responded by issuing a collective gasp, shocked that the boy from the ET films had grown up to be an adulterous perv.
After much nodding and the shaking of heads, we read on and learned that this Eliot is not a former film star recovering after the groupie years. Further digging and Eliot Spitzer is revealed as a politico in New York.
The story might end there, a scratch on the political bedpost. But the Sun gives the news relevancy by introducing a Britisher into the fray.
Says the paper: “The hunt is on for a rich Brit revealed as Client 6 of the global vice ring that brought down New York’s governor.”
Client No.6. All good scandals need a codename – The Third Man, The Hand Of God, Watergate. Given the level of interest in this story, the time difference between the UK and New York, and the appearance of a randy Britisher, we’d like to name this the Waterbottle Scandal.
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Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Madeleine McCann: Prayers, Bones And Media
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
Remember, everyone, to play Anorak Bingo you must mention Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews and – here’s the tie-breaker – Scarlett Keeling. Eyes down…
DAILY MAIL: Amanda Platell
There cannot be a person in the country who didn’t feel a surge of delight on learning that little Shannon Matthews has been found alive and well.
We can think of one.
All the more so in these days when good news has become such a rare commodity. Yet even as we celebrate, we should spare a thought for Gerry and Kate McCann, for whom Shannon’s discovery, wonderful as it is, will be a fresh reminder of their own terrible loss. The return of one lost girl is a marvel. The return of two . . . now that’s a miracle worth praying for.
Was it the power of prayer that got Shannon Matthews found? If so, who gets the reward?
Tick. Tick.
THE INDEPENDENT: “Deborah Orr: Wonderful news that carries a message for the media”
It isn’t often that the papers have some really wonderful news to report. But it really is wonderful that Shannon Matthews has been found alive.
Amanda Platell agrees.
This amazing news also carries a lesson for the media, about the way it turns horrible crimes into great stories, and what an unpleasant, self-regarding business this can be.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (621)
Shannon Matthews: Paul Drake, Mick Donovan And Claiming The Reward
SHANNON WATCH: – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
THE SUN: “Warped uncle took Shannon”
The man who named Shannon Matthews’ kidnapper Mick Donovan to police told last night how the weirdo bounced her on his knee at a funeral. Ryan Baynes told The Sun that the “oddball loner, had a reputation for ‘acting oddly’ around children”.
Says Ryan, “a tiler” from Dewsbury:
“Donovan behaved very strangely at that funeral. He was bouncing her up and down on his knee. Everyone at the funeral noticed it and thought it was far, far too close. Mick’s always been odd around kids. He really cracked up when his own kids were taken off him… I’m just glad she has been found alive and very glad I helped. Donovan is a very sick man to have done this. He’s a monster.”
Ryan called the police.
He says: “I was expecting a call back from the police to say they either arrested him or discounted him. But each time I called I was told it was being ‘looked into’. I even thought about taking a ladder down to Batley Carr, finding where Donovan lived and looking through the window of his flat to see if Shannon was there.”
Donovan is the brother of Alice Meehan, the mother of Craig Meehan — who is the partner of Shannon’s mum Karen Matthews.
Says Alice: “I can’t believe he had Shannon, my own brother. It feels like he has brought shame on our family. I have great mixed feelings because he is family and he’s done this.”
DAILY STAR: “SHANNON: ALIVE & WELL”
When detectives knocked on the door and got no reply, they smashed it down and discovered the missing girl hidden in the base of a double bed.
They asked her: “Where is the person who took you?” Shannon replied: “He’s in here.”
Detectives then found him lying in the same bed base, on the other side of a partition.
THE SCOTSMAN: “Schoolgirl found alive against all odds”
It began with a suspicious neighbour and the sound of a child in the flat above. The small home of pale brick in Lidgate Gardens contained a secret.
Didn’t it begin when Ryan Baynes told the police of Donovan?
The property where she was found, which had a small Pokémon toy in the window, was just a mile from the nine-year-old’s home and was understood to be on a police watch-list. When two detectives visited yesterday morning, they grew suspicious and questioned a downstairs neighbour, who told them of hearing a child’s footsteps in the property, which was not usual.
So it was routine police work that found Shannon?
DAILY EXPRESS: “SHANNON FOUND ALIVE IN MAN’S FLAT: KEPT HIDDEN UNDER BED”
Neighbours described Drake, who was arrested on suspicion of abduction, as a loner who had an obsession with washing his car. Mother-of-four Mandy Dixon said: “He is a weedy little man who nobody bothered with. He is obsessed with washing his car – he’s always out cleaning it, but he hasn’t been doing that for a couple of weeks. I didn’t give it much thought, to be honest.”
How was he discovered?
Detectives had all but given up hope of finding Shannon Matthews alive when she was discovered in what they thought was a routine door-to-door inquiry. Mother-of-eight Julie France said she had noticed the nine-year-old when she was driving near her home in Dewsbury, about a mile away from Shannon’s house, around the time she disappeared.
Mrs France, 45, said: “I remember seeing her pink Bratz boots and I could see her school uniform. It was about 4.15pm when I first saw her and then I spotted her again on her own 45 minutes later near the ginnel [alley] by my house. I remember she looked sad and lonely. I even stopped the car because she was on her own and thought about asking her if she was OK, but I decided not to and drove away.”
A couple of days later she heard on the news that a schoolgirl had disappeared from her area. She recognised the girl she had spotted in the pink Bratz boots as Shannon Matthews. But she couldn’t remember if she had spotted her before or after her disappearance.
“I’d only seen her for a few seconds both times. I had a mental block and thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I didn’t want to waste police time but I was so sure I’d seen her.
“I couldn’t let it drop and went to the police station a week after she disappeared.”
No mention of Mr Baynes. It was Julie France who tipped off the police.
THE GUARDIAN: “After 24 days, the sound of footsteps then a policeman’s shout: ‘We’ve got her’”
There were no sightings of Shannon Matthews, no fingerprints to work on or images of suspects. In the end, it was the sound of small footsteps through a ceiling that led police to the missing nine-year-old girl, hidden in an upstairs flat overlooking the former textile mills of Batley Carr.
Routine police work found Shannon. What of Craig Meehan? What of the whipers?
He added: “Basically I’m in the clear now – all my alibis were true. That Tuesday [when Shannon disappeared] I was in until the police officers came round. Then me, my brother-in law, my cousin and my mate went out searching. I live in this family – why would I want to do it for? I love Karen and I love the kids – everybody knows that. I know she’s my stepdaughter. But I always treated her like my own flesh and blood.”
THE INDEPENDENT: “The girl who came back from the dead”
Last night, a 39-year-old man was being held on suspicion of abduction. Neighbours named him as Michael Donovan, whois thought to be a distant relative of Shannon’s step-father and lived inthe flat raided in the Batley Carr area.”
The Sun says Donovan is Craig Meehan’s uncle. Not so distant.
Mr Donovan, a tall, thin man with black cropped hair, described by local people as a “loner”, is said to be distantly related to Shannon’s stepfather, Craig Meehan.
The reward for Shannon’s safe return was a paltry £50,500, £50,000 of which was put up by The Sun newspaper.
Police are believed to have found Shannon after acting on a call from Julie France, who lives in the same street as Mr Donovan. THE TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews suspect is a loner
Paul Drake, 39, also known as Mick Donovan, is the uncle of Shannon’s stepfather Craig Meehan and lives only a mile from Shannon’s home. His sister, Alice Drake, 50, is Mr Meehan’s mother. Dewsbury-born Mr Drake claims disability allowance and, according to neighbours, spent much of his time washing his car, a silver Peugeot 406, or sitting in the vehicle late into the night…
What else?
The Daily Telegraph understands that Mr Drake saw Shannon at the funeral of her grandfather, Brian, in November. His brother-in-law, Danny Meehan, said: “My brother died from a heart attack in November time and there was a funeral up at Dewsbury Crematorium. I thought at the time there were too many children around. Shannon was there and Paul.
“I knew him when he was a kid and Brian got together with Shannon’s gran, Alice, but I’ve hardly seen him since at all.”
Mr Drake married Susan Bird in 1996 and the couple had two daughters, now aged 12 and 10. However, the couple separated and their children were taken into care. Mr Drake’s sister Alice said: “I have great mixed feelings because he is family. He lost his own children three years ago after a bitter split from his wife. He had custody of the kids but now he no longer sees them. This killed him. He was told he should never make contact with his children. I’m sure there is no way he would have hurt Shannon.”
Craig Meehan’s sister, Caroline, said: “When they said the address on the television we just knew it was him. We knew he was on the list for the police to go and see but they hadn’t been round before today.”
As he was dragged away from his home in handcuffs by three police officers, he was heard shouting: “I’m a poorly man, I should be taken to hospital. I am not well.”
Such are the facts.
Sandra Foster, who lives in the same street, said Mr Drake was small with a sharp nose.
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (42)
Fiona Mackeown Receives Summons
FIONA MacKeown has laot a daughter.
Scarlett Keleing is murdered.
Not the Good Life.
The mother of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, who was murdered in Goa, has been issued with a summons to appear before Indian police, her lawyer says.
He said police wanted to speak to Fiona MacKeown, 43, of Bideford, Devon, about failing to provide a safe environment for her 15-year-old daughter.
But police told the BBC she was simply being asked to help with inquiries.
Shannon Matthews Found Alive In Bed: Updates
SHANNON Matthews found alive – the story so far and updates can be found here…
TOM WATSON: “Keeping your kids close”
“Technology makes it easier to keep tabs on your kids. A new GPS device will allow parents to identify where there kids are hanging out at the click of a button. The Spot (satellite personal tracker) has an emergency button and text options. Parents can track where their kids are on Google maps. There’s also mobilelocators.com which can track an individual mobile phone. A search starts at 20p.”
Not that the Labour MP advocates chipping your children. He just wants us to join the debate. It’s the New Labour trick. If you’re an MP and get caught out saying something you believe in but that makes other people pall, all you need do is say you were joining the debate.
THE TIMES: “The Maths Of Shannon Matthews”
Here’s what Geoff Newiss reported to the Home Office in 1999 following a programme of research:
“The majority of ‘vulnerable’ missing persons do not meet with tragic consequences.
“The Police National Missing Persons Bureau (PNMPB) collects vulnerable missing person reports which are still outstanding after 14 days. Of the 2,197 missing persons entered onto their database in 1997/8, 1,561 (71.0%) had been traced by the end of the year.
“Only 938 reports related to missing persons under the age of 18, of which 692 (73.8%) had been traced by the end of the year.”
And:
The Missing People charity broadly concurs:
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Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (82)
Shannon Matthews: Police Statement
THE POLICE Statement on Shannon Matthews:
Shannon Matthews has been away from home for almost four weeks.
As part of our ongoing enquiries, and following medical checks, West Yorkshire Police will begin the process of interviewing Shannon.
This may be a long process but throughout this enquiry our main focus has been and continues to be Shannon’s welfare.
We have therefore taken the decision that, for now, it is in Shannon’s best interests that she be made subject of an Emergency Police Protection Order.
This will remain in place until we have had time to establish the full facts of what happened in the time since her disappearance.
Rolling Coverage – Updates
Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (9)
Fiona MacKeown Ticks All The Boxes In Anorak Bingo
FIONA MacKeown, mother to murdered teenager Scarlett Keeling, is the subject of heated debate among the newspaper columnists.
Much of the opinion is prefaced by the word “sorry” or “forgive me”. This is always followed by an attack. “Sorry, but I blame Scarlett’s mother,” says Allison Pearson on the Mail’s front page.
Readers can join play along. It’s all part of Anorak Bingo – the game that’s taking the press by storm. The aim is to get the names ‘McCann’, ‘Matthews’ and ‘MacKeown’ into your article. Get all three and score double points. Pens at the ready…
THE PRESS: “What was her mum thinking?
Says Mike Bentley:
Well forgive me, love, but if you hadn’t decided to cart your eight (repeat, eight) children off to India for a six-month holiday, and then left one of them to fend for herself while you cleared off with your partner and the other kids (exact number of fathers unknown, but at least four), then there’s an even better chance that Scarlett might not be dead now.
Bentley has done his research. He manages to tick all the boxes. Madeleine McCann. Tick. Shannon Matthews. Tick.
Fiona MacKeown is a “soap-dodging, pikey mother”. DAILY RECORD: “Terrible Price To Pay For One Bad Decision”
Joan Burnie writes:
FIONA MacKEOWN, the mum of 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling, who was raped and murdered in Goa, is unlikely to ever win Mother of the Year. There are those who also, even if they don’t say it right out loud, whisper it about Kate McCann.
Tick.
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Hands-off mums do their children no favours
Says Alice Thomson:
“Though the children stayed away for many moons, the beautiful mother always left the window open for them to fly back. I do like a mother’s love, don’t you?” Wendy tells Peter Pan.
“You are wrong about mothers, Wendy,” Peter replies. “When I flew back to my mother, the window was barred, and there was another little boy asleep in my bed.”
Mothers in the 21st century are even more divided than the ones described in JM Barrie’s book.
Fiction. Fact. Can you spot the difference?
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Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (23)
Michael Todd In The Footsteps Of Princess Diana And Gordon Brown
“IT is the story of Britain’s everyday heroes: the kind of heroes who live next door, and in the next street, and throughout our neighbourhoods – the kind of heroes we might ourselves become.”
Gordon Brown said that in his book Britain’s Everyday Heroes, his follow up to Courage: Eight Portraits, the book in which Brown picked eight people from history that only an aged Nazi stuck in his bunker could not agree deserving of admiration.
Minds turn to this mood of hero worship, the teller reflecting in the heroic glory, as the Mirror looks at Michael Todd, the “dashing Chief Constable” who killed himself on a mountain.
The story is of allegations of three extramarital affairs, his love for his wife and distress.
But above all Mr Todd was a hero. And a hero the Mirror wants to tells us about.
The column headed “A boss you could talk to” follows in the footnotes of Brown’s works, itself a contunatiosn of the emoting that began whwn Diana died.
As with the princess, there is a book of condolences. Messages include:
“You are God’s top cop now,” says one. “An inspiration to any police cadet,” says another, although best not copy everything he did.
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Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comments (19)
Sienna Miller On The Raped And Pillaged Welsh
FOLLOWING pictures of Sienna Miller cuddling her Welsh boyfriend, Rhys Ifans, she tells “pals” in the Mirror: “I love Wales. I think it is the most beautiful country in the world and the people were just gracious and lovely considering they have been raped and pillaged by the English for so long.”
Good that she can redress the pain…
Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities, Tabloids | Comments (5)
Barry Fry’s Champion’s League Insight
SAYS Barry Fry in the Sport: “Foreigners in the premiership have sent our game to rack and ruin and I would love to see Brits and only Brits turning out on at least one Saturday in the year.”
The quarter-finals of the Champions League features 4 English teams.
Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Back pages, Tabloids | Comments (8)
